In the first of a two-part series, National Jeweler explores several storied jewelry maisons’ flirtations with the very heights of jewelry design in their high jewelry collections, presented last week alongside the haute couture showings in Paris.
Opera was the theme that united Chaumet’s four distinct groupings of high jewelry.
The Pastorale Anglaise group, for example, was an ode to the Glyndebourne opera festival held annually in England. The jewelry highlighted spectacular emeralds surrounded by a riot of color gemstones arranged to mimic the pattern of a Scottish tartan.
The Aria Passionata pieces, meanwhile, were a tribute to the emotion of Milanese opera with their mix of red gemstones like rubies and rhodolites, and the Rhapsodie Transatlantique collection interpreted New York opera as a romantic and sophisticated affair in cool-tone white gold accented with vivid pops of color.
This transformable Chaumet necklace is made in white gold, yellow gold and lacquer. It’s set with an emerald-cut 28.98-carat Muzo emerald and accented with 32 cabochon-cut emeralds from Zambia, round rubies and emeralds, baguette-cut blue and yellow sapphires, and brilliant-cut diamonds. The bottom portion of the necklace is detachable.